A. Heritage prevails; St. Thomas falls 49-48

FORT MYERS — Coaches from American Heritage and St. Thomas Aquinas each considered their invite to the City of Palms Classic a more than admirable test for the remainder of the regular season.

Heritage coach Charlie Stephenson got what he wanted in a 61-47 victory over Sarasota Riverview in a Sunshine Series game at Bishop Verot High School. St. Thomas coach Steve Strand had a look of disappointment following a 49-48 loss at the buzzer to Bishop Verot, the host school.

A victory for the Raiders (7-2) would have advanced them to Wednesday's matchup against Montverde Academy, ranked No. 2 in the nation by USA Today, Instead they move into the loser's bracket against either Lone Peak (Utah) or Callaway (Ms.) on Thursday.

"We need to make free throws and makes plays," Strand said. "One possession was the difference in the game. It should have never come down to that last shot."

Forward Steve Haney (18 points) gave St. Thomas the lead at 48-47 on a basket with 31.3 seconds left and was fouled on the play, but he missed the free throw attempt. St. Thomas was 5 of 10 from the line, while Verot was 12 of 19.

Max Williams made a short base-line jumper at the buzzer for the Vikings' (7-1) game-winner.

"We took bad shots, we couldn't get inside and didn't make free throws" Strand said. "We deserved to lose."

St. Thomas led 27-20 at the half behind Haney's 10 points. The offense was absent from there as the Raiders managed only nine points in the third quarter and fell behind 37-36. Mason Taylor had eight of his game-high 24 points to rally the Vikings.

Kobe Eubanks had 23 points and eight rebounds to lead American Heritage.

"This victory was very important," Stephenson said.

"We've gone through a little tough stretch losing to Dillard the other night and we need to get back on the right foot.

"This was a tremendous lesson for us and that's the reason we're here because we want to play the best."

Heritage (6-2) kept one step ahead of Riverview by just making more shots. The Patriots shot 47 percent from the field, while holding Riverview to 31 percent.

But the Patriots' poor second-half ball handling allowed Riverview to stay within striking distance at 49-43 with just under three minutes to play.

Back-to-back baskets by Justin Massy and Jason Massey helped ignited a 12-4 run to end the game for the Patriots.

Drake LaMont and Jason Massy each finished with 11 points.

"We knew we were on the big stage and had to come out focused," Eubanks said. "We just played hard, played our game and played together."

Heritage was coming off a one-point district loss to Dillard on Saturday where Eubanks said the team was not as focused as they should have been.